Increasing U.S. Renal Cancer Incidence Differs by Age

Monday, December 19, 2011 (Last Updated: 12/20/2011)

MONDAY, Dec. 19 (HealthDay News) -- The increase in renal cancer incidence seen from 1995 to 2006 in the United States differs by age, according to a study published in the January issue of The Journal of Urology.

Kenneth G. Nepple, M.D., from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, and colleagues examined whether the increase in kidney cancer incidence reported in the United States differs across age groups. Data from the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results cancer registries for 63,843 incident renal cancer cases from 1975 to 2006 were assessed. The renal cancer incidence rates were calculated yearly, and stratified according to age.

The investigators found that the overall age-adjusted renal cancer incidence per 100,000 adults increased 238 percent, from 7.4 in 1975 to 17.6 in 2006. From 1991 to 2006, there was a decrease in the mean age at diagnosis (from 64.7 to 62.7 years) and an increase in the proportion of patients diagnosed before age 65 years (from 45.9 to 55.3 percent). From 1975 to 2006, all age groups had significant increases in age specific renal cancer incidence rates, but the change in rates differed. The increase in overall renal cancer diagnosis was significantly quicker in the youngest age group (20 to 39 years) than in all other age groups. Patients aged 60 to 69 and 70 to 79 years had significantly more rapid increases in renal cancer incidence than those aged 40 to 49 and 50 to 59 years.

"The most rapidly increasing kidney cancer incidence was seen in those younger than 40 and 60 to 79 years old," the authors write.

One of the study authors disclosed a financial relationship with GlaxoSmithKline.